Galactica is found by an Earth ship that is investigating the destruction of a science/research vessel in a nearby star system. This is Galactica '78 and disregards the second season and the re-imagined series. Rated T for mild language. Chapter 9 online.

A/N: Hello. I have several chapters of this story completed and will be posting them over the next few days. I've been writing them because I seem to be blocked with 'To Ride White', hoping writing something would give me inspiration. Then my keyboard started acting up. It still works, but some keys want to stick and some keys don't register unless I press them very hard. This is fine for short paragraphs and simple corrections. It is not at all conducive to long writing sessions. The keyboard will be replaced in a few weeks, but I decided I'd go ahead and post this. These author notes have taken me 25 minutes to type up. This keyboard has got to go. Reviews are appreciated and missed when absent.

Disclaimer: Battlestar Galactica is copyright Glen Larson and Universal Pictures. This is fan fiction which garners NO MONEY OR OTHER MATERIAL COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER for the author of this fan fiction. Any non-canon characters and vessels belong to me. Please ask before using them.

Chapter One

It was the year 2172 when the humans of Earth first encountered the Cylons. Fortunately for them it was in the Epsilon Eridani system.

Mankind on Earth had finally broken the light barrier and had developed what they called the hyperfold drive in 2170. There were several test flights and finally the United Earth Confederation Navy began fitting the Fold to it's ships of the line. These ships had been system patrol ships but they were now converted to interstellar vessels. Of the ninety seven UEC Navy patrol ships twenty three had been fitted with the new hyperfold. Unfortunately, mankind knew nothing about the neighboring systems and it was deemed inadvisable to send armed military ships to other star systems without knowing the political climate and how aliens would react to the presence of beings other than themselves if there was indeed life there. The last thing the UEC needed was a war, especially one caused by misunderstanding.

With that thought in mind, four science/survey ships were commissioned and built. The Endeavor, a twenty person science ship, one of these four was the first.

Her orders were simple. Go out, chart Epsilon Eridani, 40 Eridani and Epsilon Indie, look for life and report findings.

Along with the hyperfold drive came the hyper-radio. Both were actually reverse engineered from a downed alien craft. The United Earth Confederation kept this as a closely guarded state secret as it was deemed that the population was not ready for such information.

The crew of the Endeavor was diverse including seven from the North American province, six British provincials, four from the Russian province, two from the province of Israel, and one from Arab. Thirteen of them were men, seven were women. They were all the best in their respective fields.

Bolshivic pressed a button on the side of her chair. A small terminal and keyboard extended from the side of the chair and moved into position. She opened her official journal and began typing an entry.

Arrived Epsilon Eridani without incident. Beginning standard survey. Area appears to be peaceful. Still, something doesn't feel right. I can't explain it, perhaps it's being out of the Sol system for the first time. No matter, we will perform our mission to the best of our ability.

She saved the log and took a stylus. She signed on the screen under the text to authenticate the entry and hit the button to retract the interface back into the chair.

Lt. Yeshua Ben David called out. "Fourth planet seems to be inhabited. Receiving radio signals. Fourth planet appears to be point of origin."

"Does the language seem familiar, Mr Ben David?"

"No, ma'am," he replied. "Wait. What?" He stared at his display. "Captain. This is incredible." He worked some controls and a face appeared on the main viewer.

"No Ma'am," Ben David replied. "Notice he's smiling. I watched Star Trek as a boy and Vulcans don't smile. Rather odd coincidence that our first contact would be with a species that resembles the Vulcans of an ancient vid program. And the first species Humans in that show were introduced to were beings that look similar to these."

"Engaging. Missile missed us. Delta Vee should make it impossible to change course and chase us before it runs out of fuel."

"Communications. All frequencies," Bolshevic ordered.

"All frequencies open, Ma'am," This from her XO.

"This is the science ship Endeavor. We are an unarmed survey ship on a charting mission. We surrender."

"They are launching another missile. It's chasing us."

"Evasive maneuvers Mr. Sadiqq. XO, send all logs and flight recorder information to Earth in a burst using the hyperradio."

"Yes, Captain."

"Send emergency voice message to Fleet Ops, in the clear."

"Channel open, Ma'am," replied the Exec.

"Fleet Opsl," Bolshevic called into the microphone. "This is Endeavor. Code Alpha One Orange. Sending telemetry and logs as well. They will not accept surrend..." The missile struck vaporizing the Endeavor and all twenty souls aboard her.

UEC Navy Fleet Operations, located in Houston, knew something was wrong when they received a distress message.

"Put it up on the speakers," ordered Commodore Clarence Jones, the duty officer. Sending ship's logs and flight recorder couldn't be good.

Through the speakers came the message they all had hoped never to hear.

Fleet Ops, this is Endeavor. Code Alpha One Orange. Sending telemetry and logs as well. They will not accept surren..." The transmission broke in static.

"Endeavor. This is Mission control. Do you copy? Endeavor, respond."

"Son of a bitch." this from one of the telemetry stations. "They can't respond, Commodore. They aren't there anymore."

Jones spoke up. "What? What do you mean they aren't there anymore, mister?"

"The telemetry shows that they were under attack. There was a visual recorder feed as well. We show an incoming missile from what appears to be a large ship shaped like two discs connected along their axes. The missile hit and then the feed terminates. At the same time that the voice message stopped."

"Well, obviously they were under attack. That's what a Code Alpha One Orange is. Do we have any idea who these attackers are?"

"No, sir," reported a technician. "The logs indicate the vessel jumped in in a fashion similar to the Hyperfold."

"Similar? But not exact?"

The technician shook her head. "No sir. There was no flash. Suddenly they were just there."

The commodore picked up the red phone and pressed the button in the center of it.

"Yes sir. They reported a Code Alpha One Orange. From what we could get it appears the aliens wouldn't accept surrender."

Another pause.

"Yes, sir. They sent their logs and flight recorder as well as telemetry... Yes sir. I'll get right on it." He hung up the phone.

"Alright," he called out. "Listen up, everyone. What happened here today is beyond Top-Secret. No one, absolutely no one, is to discuss this outside this room under threat of criminal prosecution for High Treason."

The technicians looked at each other in shock. High Treason?

"I want everything on disc and then a complete destructive overwrite of everything connected with Endeavor. We don't need to cause a panic. Supposedly the Hyperfold and Hyper-radio are untraceable, but we do not know what the capabilities of these aliens are. Remember. They would not accept surrender."

The United Earth Confederation Security council convened an emergency session and after three days of suggestions and discussions, it was decided that they would look into building a space control warship.

When they met again in two weeks, it was revealed that such was possible. The contractors however, quoted a price that when all was said and done was just over seven billion marks.

"Seven billion!" Trevor Enwright, The representative from the European provinces exploded. "That's ludicrous."

Charles Enloe, the Representative from the North American province spoke up. "What would you have us do? These people or whatever they are destroyed an unarmed science vessel. They wouldn't even accept surrender. Do we need to play the transmissions yet again?"

"Maybe we were in their space," Enwright riposted. "Did you consider that?"

"I considered it and rejected it, sir." This from Sergei Romanov, the representative from the province of Russia. "They wouldn't accept surrender. Our people sent our intentions of charting only and they fired anyway. Endeavor barely managed to avoid that one and sent a transmission that they surrender. And were still destroyed. That is not reasonable behavior, even from my ancestors who were rather bloodthirsty. Whoever or whatever these beings are, they represent a threat to this planet. We must defend our world at all costs. We have nowhere else to go."

In the end, which took three more days of discussions, it was decided to present it to the General Assembly for a vote.

Three months after the first Security Council meeting, construction commenced on the first United Earth space control warship. What they were calling a battlecarrier. The name still was being discussed amongst the Security Council and the United Earth Navy began selecting members of it's ranks to man this ship along with other ships that were planned in the future.